Socrates, as he is portrayed in Plato's early dialogues, remains one of the most controversial figures in the history of philosophy. This book concerns six of the most vexing and often discussed features of Plato's portrayal: Socrates' methodology, epistemology, psychology, ethics, politics, and religion. Brickhouse and Smith cast new light on Plato's early dialogues by providing novel analyses of many of the doctrines and practices for which Socrates is best known. Included are discussions of Socrates' moral method, his profession of ignorance, his denial of akrasia, as well as his...

Socrates is one of the most important yet enigmatic philosophers of all time; his fame has endured for centuries despite the fact that he never actually wrote anything. In 399 B.C.E., he was tried on the charge of impiety by the citizens of Athens, convicted by a jury, and sentenced to death (ordered to drink poison derived from hemlock). About these facts there is no disagreement. However, as the sources collected in this book and the scholarly essays that follow them show, several of even the most basic facts about these events were controversial in antiquity, and the questions persist...

The philosophy of Plato, acknowledged as an important thinker of the Ancient World, is a focus of attention not only among philosophers, but also classicists and literary and political theorists. This set selects examples of Platonic scholarship published in English since the 1950s and adds translations of works published in other languages. It covers Plato's theory of the Forms and Platonic Erotics and is concerned with the interpretations and major debates of philosophers of the Anglo-American schools since 1970.

This interpretation of Plato's Apology of Socrates argues that Plato's Socrates offers a sincere defence against the charges he faces. In doing so the book offers an exhaustive historical and philosophical interpretation of and commentary on the text.